Letters to Editor
Deaf and Defensive Ears
A year ago, a dedicated group of concerned citizens of Geauga County (Protect Geauga Parks) gathered 2,000-plus signatures of persons concerned about the state of Geauga County Parks.
The main concern was the direction the parks were going, especially the emphasis on recreation rather than preservation. The mission had been changed from emphasis on preservation to connection.
The Protect Geauga Parks group has been urging the Park Board to reconsider this change and return it to the original mission. This has fallen on deaf and defensive ears.
In response to this outcry regarding the mission, the Park Board developed a survey that was distributed to the entire county. This survey was completed quite a time ago, but has not been discussed at any Park Board meeting. The only discussion has come from the PGP group, which requested the results.
The results are right in line with the PGP feelings about the direction the park should be going.
The results have not been discussed or posted on the Geauga Parks website. It would seem the newsletter would be a perfect publication to report the results of the survey, but has not been mentioned that I have seen.
Our tax money was spent on the survey, so I would think this would be something the public would be entitled to see.
As a follower of the Park Board meetings for the past year, I wonder why the Park Board seems to be against the public and not interested in any ideas they are presented with?
We Are all working for the good of our Geauga County Parks and our Community are we not?
Catherine Whitright
Munson Township
People Don’t Serve Grendell
The Honorable Judge Timothy J. Grendell has used the same “MO” when dealing with the grassroots group, Protect Geauga Parks, as Mr. Karlovec exposed in his editorial in the Aug. 27 issue of the Maple Leaf.
The judge disregarded over 2,000 signatures on petitions to re-establish the mission of protection, conservation and preservation of natural areas in the Geauga Park District.
He used public funds to take out full-page ads against these citizens.His full-page ad is still linked on his court website.
He addressed a political gathering of supporters at The West Woods last September and ridiculed Protect Geauga Parks, even flapping his arms like a bird.
He sent Ms. Laurie (with a videocamera) and Mr. Ralph (armed as usual) to several PGP meetings.
He invited representatives of PGP “to his chambers,” much as he has done with the county commissioners.
He wrote letters to participants in the PGP group, telling them to “howl like coyotes” for the next six years.
He utilized the Voices of Nature newsletter to “advertise” against PGP. (PGP obtained documents late in 2014 showing the judge reviewed the park district newsletter before publication.)
He has hired Mrs. Shumway, president of the Park Board, to work in his court. Mrs. Shumway even called the Cleveland Museum of Natural History objecting to PGP participating in the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival early last spring.
She has refused to “recognize” PGP or meet with the group. It seems she has her orders.
According to the Geauga rumor mill, the judge may have sent Mr. Ralph to local newspapers to collect any information on my husband and myself. (Good luck on that; we are pretty boring.)
It seems that the majority of letters to editor supporting the Honorable Judge Timothy J. Grendell have been from court employees, park directors and political colleagues (some of which, in my humble opinion, seem to have been “ghostwritten” by “another.”)
The Park District conducted a survey last spring to help design the strategic plan for the parks for 10 years. The results of that survey DID NOT support the Grendell agenda for the parks.
To this date, those results have not been discussed in a Park Board meeting nor released to the public. That should be a message in itself.
The judge is an elected official who serves the people of this county. We do not serve him.
Sandy Buckles
Troy Township
Just People
Three guys ride into Sturgis, S.D.: One Black, one White and the other Hispanic.
No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke. It’s the tale of Mikey, Keith and me, almost total strangers with dissimilar backgrounds (except for our Harleys) who recently completed a 2,600-mile motorcycle ride to and from the legendary bike rally.
After a week of cramped motel rooms, gas station meals and watching out for each other, we affirmed the obvious: We love our families; like to laugh and enjoy life; and worry about the same things.
In short, we’re all just people, no matter what we look like — and it’s pretty darn easy to get along with your brothers and sisters when you start with that.
Benito Alvarez, MD
Chester Township
Keeping Track
I am writing this letter to thank Mr. John Karlovec for his time in showing just how wrong most of the statements were that Kim Laurie made in her letter to the editor on Aug. 27, 2015.
If you believed everything that Ms. Laurie said, you would be lead to think that Ms. McArthur was a villain.
Judge Grendell is the one who started this entire fiasco. It seems that the judge cannot stand anyone saying anything that is not preapproved by the judge himself.
In a letter to the editor a week before, Mr. John Ralph tried to make us feel that the judge is constantly being picked upon for his actions. If the judge would not go around sending out letters to some people saying he was going to be in office for another six years and telling them to howl at the moon if we didn’t like it, I might think so.
However, when a judge uses juvenile court paper letterhead to send out his personal feelings to citizens of Geauga County, this is intended to intimidate. I received a letter because I write letters to the editor and they have not been approved by the judge.
It is good to see that someone with all of the facts such as Mr. Karlovec is keeping track of letters to the editor and not letting some of the things said be taken as fact.
Joy Keco
Bainbridge Township
Survey Says?
The Shumway/Grendell Park Board has insisted that the people of Geauga County would prefer to use our parks primarily for entertainment purposes. Recreation has been given higher standing than conservation in the Park’s bylaws.
However, their own survey asking what people want concerning our parks was overwhelmingly for preserving, conserving and protecting our natural resources.
The four most important things for Geauga Parks to do, according to survey results, are: protect wildlife habitat, protect areas of natural beauty, protect our water quality and preserve open space.
Your people have spoken. Please do not ignore them.
Why haven’t the results been published?
Please do the right thing by admitting your error in judgment and return “preserve, conserve and protect” to the bylaws and publish the survey results. After all, we all make mistakes. Mending them shows maturity and honest intention.
Rick Webb
Munson Township
Do Your Job
I am writing to respond to the article in the Aug. 27 Maple Leaf, “Fire Dept. Gives Final Notice to Burton Council.”
The fire department and the village council should sit down and once and for ALL work out a new contract. This has been going on for sometime and both parties are to blame.
When I was chief of the fire department, myself and the trustees had meetings with ALL the contract areas and, at times, we showed the contract parties the fire department books just to get the point across that the fire department needed funds to run the department and what it costs to provide the services the fire department had to offer.
Both parties had to give a little to have a contract signed at times. I did this for three years and we always had a contract with the village and townships we covered.
Let Burton Village Council and Burton Vol. Fire Dept. Trustees sit down and get this done as soon as possible. Quit pointing fingers at each other and do your job. The people of Burton Village needs the services that the Burton Vol. Fire Dept. provides and the Burton Vol. Fire Dept. needs Burton Village’s support.
Tim Glassburner
Retired Fire Chief
Burton Vol. Fire Dept.
In Darkest Night
During the recent Perseid Meteor shower I visited a site nationally recognized as one of the best places in the eastern United States to view this spectacular phenomenon: Observatory Park here in Geauga County.
Not only is the physical site wonderful, but the facilities, displays and educational opportunities are without equal.
This is a monument to the hard work of the staff of our parks and to the extraordinary vision of our past administrations and judges.
I was there from about 11 p.m. until almost 2 a.m. There must have been well over a thousand people spread over the area. The parking lot was full, cars on the grass, along the edges of the lot, along the entry road. There were families with young children, teenagers checking star positions on their smart phones, people on walkers, people with their pets, college professors discussing temperature gradients of the stars, all with one goal: To see the silent brief burst of light of a meteor tracing across the sky.
We were not disappointed; there were regular gasps of wonder and delight.
This is Geauga Parks at their best. People of all ages, interests and abilities coming together to enjoy the natural world we are blessed with. The parks do not need ball fields, shooting ranges, golf courses or extreme sports; the parks have something no other place has — people enjoying each other and the wonder of the natural world around us.
Nature is always doing something miraculous; it’s our responsibility to be there to see it.
The Shumway/Grendell park board and the current administration have no vision (or at least not one they will share with the public) for our parks. Perhaps they should heed their recent survey of Geauga residents.
Perhaps, since they appear to be stumbling about in the dark, they should visit Observatory Park and see if they can see in darkest night what is plain to everyone else — the Parks are to protect and conserve our natural world and must be preserved.
Ed Buckles
Vice President
Protect Geauga Parks Inc.
